which tends to destroy that open, generous, upright spirits which ought to pervade the atmosphere of home, is as much to be feared, as that which leads into more obvious and direct evil; because it operates upon the moral constitution of children, and consequently tells upon their future lives.
In the formation of character it makes an immense difference, whether we aim at what is great, or what is little. There is a feebleness of resolution, a littleness of purpose, and a puerility of character altogether, which may be both amiable and respectable in its way, but it must ever be in a small way; and, while I should be sorry indeed to recommend anything likely to be destructive to simplicity, I feel convinced in my own mind, that true nobility of character will always be found associated with a certain degree of simplicity of heart.
Eagerness to obtain immediate gratification, to snatch at individual good, and to reap the harvest as soon as the seed is sown, is not only the characteristic of childhood, but of all stages of life, with those who never attain a moral dignity beyond, that of children. To prove that the possession of an expected pleasure does not really do good, or that the privation of it does not really do harm, is a part of the discipline exercised by Divine wisdom. It is a lesson we all have to learn, and the sooner the better; for having learned this lesson, the eagerness of what may be called an appetite for pleasure is allayed, and the mind is enabled to stretch onward to that greater good, which, in so many instances, can only be obtained by intermediate suffering and endurance.
Patient waiting for a long-expected issue, with unabated efforts steadily directed to one point, an eye fixed intently upon one object of attainment, and not diverted by intervening things — these all belong to true greatness of character; and they are more especially worthy of our attention, as forming parts of the Christian character too; for where would be the exercise of faith, if things hoped for were immediately seen?
In the formation of a noble, and even of a useful char-
